Beneath London - James P.Blaylock

The collapse of the Victoria Embankment uncovers a passage to an unknown realm beneath the city. Langdon St. Ives sets out to explore it, not knowing that a brilliant and wealthy psychopathic murderer is working to keep the underworld’s secrets hidden for reasons of his own. 

St. Ives and his stalwart friends investigate a string of ghastly crimes: the gruesome death of a witch, the kidnapping of a blind, psychic girl, and the grim horrors of a secret hospital where experiments in medical electricity and the development of human, vampiric fungi, serve the strange, murderous ends of perhaps St. Ives’s most dangerous nemesis yet. 

My thoughts:

I did assume it would take place more beneath London, I mean that is the name of the book. But it mostly took place above ground. Which sort of was a shame, cos the underworld seems really strange with toadstools that eat people.

Steampunk wise, yes it was an alternative Victorian England, but it was more gadgetwise it was steampunk. A few here and there, and witches too, oh and those weird toadstools.

It is a series, but I thought it worked well in its own. Sure there was talk about other characters. And I am sure I could have experienced things even more if I had read the other books, but that is the downfall when you jump into a series. So it works like this too.

The story. We have a professor St Ives who gets a new case about what is beneath London. But then more things happen. A psychic girl is kidnapped. Strange things are going on in London. Are they all connected somehow? To his help he has his wife, and well more people. But I can give you the details cos as things happen, we meet more people...as things happen. Spoilers darling.

It's kind of a thriller mystery set in a steampunk world. There is a strange sort of dry humour there too. The tone is actually really hard to describe. 

But sure, sometimes I felt like, maybe everyone was too nice. More boom, and toadstools please! It was cool, but not always for me.

Conclusion:

An interesting mix.

Cover

eh

Paperback, 432 pages
Published June 9th 2015 by Titan Books
Steampunk mystery
For review